RS-GST-LD DEBATE 2 LAST

"We were not lucky, nor the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "We were not lucky, nor the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh then, to make the Opposition understand the benefits of GST when it was referred to by none other than the Prime Minister (Modi) who is seeing all virtues and benefits today, but he was the single most agitator against the GST saying it will destroy the federal spirit, it is against the Constitution. "We have no quarrel that if there is more wisdom that has come in, perhaps all of you would have said that is in the larger interest of the country," Sharma said. Participating in the debate, Bhupendra Yadav of the BJP expressed hope on petroleum products being included in the GST going forward if a consensus was evolved on the issue. Naresh Agarwal of the Samajwadi Party sought to know how the local bodies like muicipal corporations will be compensated for loss of revenue incurred on account of the GSTs implementation. Derek OBrien of Trinamool Congress said, the concept of GST was introduced by the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2000 in the Parliament "but people (then) were more familiar with KBC (Kaun Bangega Crorepati)." He said the concept has "evolved over the last 17 years and is something we can be proud of." About the politics over last two decades on the tax reform, he said, "In GST, G stands for Go. When in the government, go for it and when in opposition go slow over it. Be it the JDU, SP, BSP, AIADMK or NCP, everybody has done the same thing." OBrien quoted the ministers of the BJP-ruled states like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, who had categorically opposed the GST earlier. Attacking the BJP, he said, "when the party gives lecture on being a responsible opposition, it is not digestible." Citing an instance, he said Parliament was disrupted for 22 days over 2G scam and 423 working hours were lost. He also talked about various views on whether or not the recommendations made by GST Council should come to Parliament "as some say that in that case you are taking away federal structure because GST Council is a council of states". He said that "people still talk about KBC but now it stands for Kab Banega Consensus". PTI RSN KKS AKK

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

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